The Nothing Society
6th May 2023
If we are going to judge a way of looking at the world solely by its worst adherents, then we should also remember that the only self-declared atheist nations in history have been the communist dictatorships. Lenin said that atheism was fundamental to communism. Stalin and others outlawed and persecuted the Russian Orthodox Church. The Chinese communists have persecuted Christians and other faiths.
So is atheism responsible for the live organ harvesting of China? Is atheism responsible for the 100 million murders by communist regimes? Should we remember that atheist nations starved, beat, whipped, suffocated, tortured and executed millions of people?
I used to be a fairly militant atheist. I’m still an atheist and find it impossible to believe in a benign Creator in a flawed universe. But I’ve grown up enough to see how much good we lost when we abandoned Christianity, and how many grim things have flourished since.